What is the difference between a carpet and a rug? I tend to think of a carpet as covering more space than a rug.
But the dictionaries give them as synonyms.
From a story I'm reading:
Instead of the luxurious apartment I had prepared myself to behold, a plain, scantily-furnished room opened before me, of a nature between a library and a studio. There was not even a carpet on the polished floor, only a rug.....,